A Different Path
by Chronos the Cat
Summary: What if the first hit on Kim's site had been a little different?


"**Kim Possible: A Different Path"**

**A KP Alternate History Fan Fiction**

**By Chronos the Cat**

_Author's Note: Depending on how you interpret things, the timing of events here may be different from cannon. Just consider that part of why things went differently in this Alternate History._

KPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKP

_...Middleton Junior-High, sometime in the nineties._

With the spectacular routine Kim Possible had just performed, the cheer captain, Bonnie Rockwaller, had no choice but to let Kim join the team.

She didn't have to like it, though.

"Fine. You make the squad. Barely."

Just then, Kim's best friend, Ron Stoppable, burst into the gym. "Kim, you got a hit on the site! A major hit!"

Kim Possible, the pre-teen girl who could "do anything" had just set up her website the previous day. She hadn't expected a response so soon – not everybody in town had a computer, and she didn't see any reason anyone from outside the Middleton area would expect her to be able to help them. However, it seemed she'd gotten lucky. Still, what would cause Ron to call the hit "major"?

Sceptically, she asked, "Baby sitting the turner twins again?"

Ron shook his head. "No..." In a whisper that wasn't very quiet, but was good enough to keep the other cheerleaders from hearing, he continued, "Secret-major!"

"Secret?"

"Uh huh. I can't tell you in public."

Kim rolled her eyes.

"Come on!" Ron grabbed her arm and started pulling her out.

Bonnie complained, "Kim! You're just starting practice!"

"Don't worry! I'll be just a minute!"

"You'd better be!"

_...Moments later, in a empty hall..._

"So what's the big secret?"

Ron handed her a computer printout.

After reading it, Kim exclaimed, "Somebody wants me to --! --Mmph!" Ron put her hand over her mouth to stop her from finishing.

"Do you want everybody to know!"

Kim shook her head. Quietly, she said, "Ron, I can't do this! It's a crime!"

Ron nodded. "I know. There's no way you could pull it off, and when you got caught, you'd be in so much trouble! This is why saying you can do anything is misleading..."

Kim said indignantly, "I so too could pull it off! And I wouldn't get caught, either! It's just the principle of the thing."

"You really think you can do anything, don't you?"

"Hey, anything's possible for a Possible."

Ron shook his head. "Right."

Kim handed him back the printout. "I want you to get rid of this! Tear it up, burn it, put it down a toilet – whatever you can do to make sure it never sees the light of day."

Ron saluted. "Righty-oh!"

Kim rolled her eyes. "I've got to get back to cheer practice. Talk to you later. ...Oh, and don't interrupt practice again – I'm on thin enough ice with Bonnie as it is!"

"Right! Sorry! Won't happen again!" Ron ran off, and Kim headed back to the gym.

KPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKP

_...That Night..._

Kim stared at her website. "She can do anything," it said. But what exactly did she mean by that, she now wondered.

She checked her messages. Still only that one from "Mr. Anonymous" asking her to steal the "Devonius Diamond" from the Middleton Museum. What sort of guy asked a pre-teen girl to steal a diamond from a high-security location! ...Of course, now that she thought of it, she hadn't actually said on the site how old she was... Or what sort of things she would do...

"_She can do anything."_

It was ridiculous, really. She should report the guy to the cops – he might not have used his real name, but there was a meeting place and time. It was annoying, though, to have to throw out the first request on her site, just because the person who asked it was loony.

She read through the message again. $30,000... That was a **lot** of money. Of course, the diamond was probably worth a lot more, but it wasn't as if she knew anyone else she could sell the diamond to...

Silly, really, that she was even thinking about such things – she wasn't going to steal it, after all.

"_She **can **do anything."_

She couldn't do it – it was wrong. It went against everything her parents had taught her. And like Ron had said, it's not like she could actually get away with it...

"_She can do **anything**..." _

A smile slowly spread across her face. She **could** do it – she knew it. It would be difficult to pull off, but she was sure with the proper planning, she could get in, get the diamond, and get out, with no one the wiser. She could even deal with "Mr. Anonymous" and any surprises he might have, without revealing her true face.

...Of course, if anyone investigating the crime should trace it back to her site, and the name "Kim Possible"... Thinking quickly, she saved the message to a floppy disk, then went into her web-host's site-editing system, and deleted everything off her site, leaving only a message, "Down for renovations." Then she shut down the computer, hid the floppy disk, and called Ron.

"Ron, meet me at the tree-house. I need to talk in person."

"Now! My parents won't let me go out this late!"

"Then don't let them see you!"

"Alright. But this better be important..." Ron said reluctantly.

"It is. I'll talk to you in a few." She hung up, went to her door, and locked it. She then got a rope out of her closet, and tied it to a beam on the ceiling. She then turned off her light, and, opening her window, she tossed the other end of the rope out, and climbed down the rope.

Once she got to the ground, she quickly and stealthily headed for the tree-house, being careful to stay out of the lights from the windows of her and Ron's houses.

She made it to the tree-house before Ron, which gave her time to think._"I really shouldn't be doing this," _she told herself, but for once, that thought didn't matter. She had been starting to feel bored with life, and needed something to spice it up. And it wasn't as if she would be hurting anybody, not really. All that money was quite the incentive, too. But most of all... she wanted to prove to herself that she really could do anything...

She was brought out of her musings by the sound of Ron climbing the ladder to the tree-house.

Once he had made it up, and sat down near her, he said, "So what did you want to talk about, KP?"

Kim looked away. "Ron, do you remember that hit you showed me this afternoon?"

"Of course! It was only a few hours ago!"

Kim didn't look at him, or say anything.

Ron's eyes widened. "You're not seriously thinking of doing it, are you!"

Kim looked at him, and she said in a lonely voice, "Would you hate me if I did?"

Ron's eyes widened even further, and he backed away from her a bit. "Whoa. Whoa! **Whoa!**"

As Kim started to shrink in on herself, Ron moved back toward her, and put his hand on her shoulder. "KP, nothing could make me hate you."

Kim smiled at him, even as tears welled up in her eyes. "Thanks Ron."

"You know I'm your best friend, and nothing could ever tear us apart. ...But I gotta ask, what brought all this on?"

Kim looked past him. "I couldn't get it out of my head, Ron. I know stealing is wrong, but the thought of such a challenge... I want to find out if I really can do it."

"Couldn't you find some other challenge? Something legal?"

"Maybe, in time... I don't know... I don't think it would be the same..."

"KP, I'm thinking that's a good thing!"

"Ron, you know what I meant."

"I'm not sure. Do you even know what you mean?"

"I..." Kim sighed, and looked off into the night sky. "Is this all there is for me? Mom and Dad living happy, quiet lives in suburbia with their kids? I always assumed I would just switch roles, from the daughter to the mother..."

"A working mom, if your mom is any indication," Ron interjected.

"True... And I know my mom helps save a lot of lives... But what recognition does she get for her troubles? Oh, I know it isn't about recognition to her, but... I want to be **somebody**, not just a person keeping the world running from behind the scenes..."

Ron said sceptically, "And you think stealing a diamond will make you 'somebody'?"

"No! Of course not! It's not really this specific job – although the money and challenge are attractive – it's more what this represents."

"You mean, a lifetime in prison?"

Kim scowled at Ron. "Freedom, Ron. Assuming, as you pointed out, I don't get caught. But I'm almost sure I won't. ...Freedom. The freedom to do whatever I want, to break rules if I don't feel like obeying them, to choose my own path in life."

"Wow. You really thought this out, huh?"

Kim said in embarrassment, "Actually, I'm coming up with it as I go along..."

It was now Ron's turn to scowl. "Right. And you're risking your future on this?"

Kim got up and started pacing. "I'm coming up with the words as I go, but the feeling's been there ever since it occurred to me that I really **could** do it. And the feeling of stagnating, of having nothing to look forward to but mediocrity, that's been with me for months."

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"What was I going to say?"

"Hmm..."

Both of them were silent for a while. Then Ron said, "So, you really think this will solve all your problems?"

Kim shook her head. "No. It'll probably create more problems than it solves. But the problems it will be solving will be big ones."

"You know, once you do this, there won't really be any turning back. Even if you confessed your crimes and promised never to do it again, it would be years before people would trust you."

"If I don't confess..."

"You'll be a criminal. Whether or not anyone else knows it."

"True. I know it's a big decision. That's why I needed to talk with you about it first."

"Well, if you're asking for my opinion, I say don't do this. You're just experiencing a mid-life crisis... ...Only, before you're a teen..."

Kim smiled in amusement.

Ron continued, "The point is, we've got years of school left. We don't need to decide what we're doing with life until then. When you graduate, then it'll be time to worry about whether your life is exiting enough."

Kim let out a sigh. "I suppose. I'm just not sure if I can wait. I'm bored with life **now.**"

Ron got up, walked over to her, and put a hand on her shoulder. "Look, you have a couple weeks before the guy wants the diamond. At least give yourself a few days to decide."

"Yeah, I suppose..."

Suddenly, Ron's eyes lit up. "Oh! I almost forgot! I was going to show you tomorrow, but since we're both here, now..." Ron reached into one of his pockets, and pulled out a pinkish blob with teeth.

Kim said hesitantly, "What is.. that?"

"A naked mole rat! I just got 'em today at Smarty-Mart."

"A naked mole rat?"

"I named him Rufus. Ain't' he cute?"

"Not quite the term I'd use, but so long as you like him..."

"I not only like him, I think he's **very** cute!"

"Well, that's what matters then."

"You wanna hold 'im?"

"I think I'll pass."

KPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKP

_...The next day..._

"Site down for renovations!"

As he tried to stand perfectly still so as to not touch the laser-defense-grid, Mr Paisley asked in a panicked voice, "Now what'll we do?"

"Wait! I'm on the wrong site!" The laser-defense salesman carefully used his sock-clad toe to push the left arrow key on his laptop, moving the cursor back to the "k" in "kimpossible . com". He then carefully hit the "delete" key, followed by "enter". "Now, let's try that again..."

KPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKP

_...The next morning..._

"Mom, I'm going to be a little late getting home tonight."

"Cheer practice?"

"No, I want to take a look at an exhibit I heard about at the Middleton Museum."

"Oh! We should make it a family outing! Why don't you wait until the weekend?"

"It'll be crowded, then! Besides, I'm not going to take long."

"Well... okay then..."

_...And on the way home from school the following day..._

"I'm going to do it," Kim told Ron.

"What? What are you going to do?"

"You know, the hit I got on the site?"

"What! Oh, man! Come on, KP, you know it isn't a good idea."

"I've made up my mind. All I want to know is, are you going to help me, are you going to keep quiet, or are you going to tell our parents or the cops."

Ron took a deep breath, then sighed. "I won't tell. But I don't want to be a part of this. In fact, don't tell me anything about how you do it – the less I know, the better for both of us."

Kim looked at Ron, then hugged him. "I'm really making things difficult for you, aren't I? I'm sorry... Don't worry, I won't get you involved. And thanks for not spilling the beans."

Unsure how to respond to this, Ron said, "Yeah, well... you're welcome."

_...And so, that night..._

Kim waited until everyone had gone to bed, before climbing out of bed and locking the door to her room. She then changed out of her pajamas and into tight black pants, and a snug black shirt. Black socks, sneakers, and gloves left her nearly invisible in the dark from below her neck.

She tied back her hair, and pulled on a black ski-mask, and a nondescript black backpack.

She knew it wasn't a perfect costume – the mask and pants were uncomfortable, her ponytail and eyes could still be seen, and her sneakers could leave treads that would help identify their style. Still, she wouldn't be revealing her face or leaving fingerprints, so as long as she wasn't caught in the act or with the diamond, it would take some really good detective work to put all the clues together and trace things back to her.

Satisfied, she unlocked the door again, and sneaked down the stairs. She had considered going out her window again, but figured there was too much chance of someone spotting the rope hanging from her window...

Reaching the door, she slowly and quietly opened the door, and stepped out. She closed the door behind her, and avoiding the movement sensor for the light by the door, sneaked out of the yard.

KPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKP

The security guard shone his light into the nooks and crannies of the room, looking for anything amiss. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, he shone it ahead of him again, and resumed his walk through the museum.

However, as soon as he left the room, a figure in black stepped out of the shadows.

A bit of powder flung into the air revealed the laser "tripwires", hooked into the alarm system.

The figure easily hopped over the lasers, her ponytail fluttering as she carefully avoided the tiles she suspected to be pressure sensitive.

The redhead stepped up to the display case which held the Devonius Diamond. She knew that in movies the only way to get into a case like this was a glass cutter, but her research had uncovered a far simpler flaw in this particular case's design. She pulled out a wire, and inserted it into the lock on the lid. It seemed like it took forever, but less than a minute had passed when the lock clicked open.

Kim removed her wire, then carefully opened the lid on the case. She then pulled out of her pack a small bag of rocks. Carefully but quickly, she switched the diamond with the bag of rocks.

"_Thank you, Indiana Jones,"_ she thought as she put the diamond into her pack. She hopped back over the security lasers, then looked up at one of the security cameras. There was no one to watch the video from the cameras right now – she had knocked out the man in the security room earlier. Still, for the sake of whomever might watch the tape later, she flipped the camera the bird. She then dashed off, back into the shadows...

KPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKP

"It's a good thing you went to the museum the other day, Kim – it's going to be closed for a few days."

"Oh?" Kim said, genuinely surprised. "Why's that?" she asked, though she had a good guess.

"It seems a valuable diamond was stolen last night – the police are conducting an investigation now, and probably won't be done for a couple days."

"Huh. Well, I hope they catch whoever did it."

"Mmm. It's not a comforting thought to think there's a skilled thief loose in our town..."

Kim managed to keep from bursting into a huge grin until she'd left the house.

She was still wearing the smile when she met up with Ron.

Ron raised an eyebrow. "Have fun last night?" he said in a slightly disapproving tone.

"It was great!" Kim said ecstatically. "I'd tell you all about it, but..."

"I already told you, I don't want to know."

Kim sighed, her enthusiasm curbed by concern. "You still disapprove."

"I don't know. Yes. I didn't think you'd actually go through with it."

They were silent for a few moments, then Kim said tentatively, "I hope we can still be friends."

"I told you, nothing will ever break our friendship. ...I just don't know if we can be as close as we were before."

They walked on in silence for a while.

Finally, Ron said, "I just want to know – was it worth it? Was it everything you thought it would be?"

"Yes. I'd do it again. I probably will do it again. The thrill... you can't imagine."

"Well... I'm glad for you. I just hope you don't come to regret it someday..."

Neither said anything more until they got to school.

KPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKP

That weekend, KimPossible Dot Com came back online. This time, the slogan read, "She can do almost anything!" followed by the blurb, "Babysitting, yard work, cat rescuing, and more!"

KPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKP

_...A week later, on a deserted road in a deserted part of town..._

Seven men stood in the street, waiting. Six had shaved heads, wore dark jackets and carried guns. The seventh had brown hair streaked with blond, wore a brown suit, and carried a briefcase.

"Where is she!" the man with briefcase said. "We know the diamond was stolen!"

"I'm right here, Mr. Anonymous." a female voice said, as a masked figure in black stepped out of the shadows of an alleyway.

"Ah, Miss Possible, I presume?" He looked at her strangely. "Gee, are you short, or are you a kid?"

"Miss Possible wasn't thinking of criminal activities when she said she could do anything. She's changed her site a bit since you sent her that message, you know. However, I found out about your little 'request', and decided to take you up on the offer. And that's really all you need to know – well, other than that I have this." She took out the diamond.

Anonymous smiled, and with the briefcase still in hand, rubbed his hands together gleefully. "At last, the Devonius Diamond!" He held out his free hand. "Give it, give it!"

Kim raised an eyebrow. "Patience, my friend. First there's the little matter of my money."

Anonymous patted the briefcase. "It's all right here. All thirty-thousand."

"Actually, about that... I was thinking, this diamond's worth a lot more than that. I could probably find someone willing to pay a lot more for it... unless, you want to give me a better offer?"

Anonymous snarled, "I have a better offer, all right!" He motioned to his goons, and they all aimed their guns at her. "Give me the diamond, and I let you leave with your life! ...I wasn't gonna give you any money, anyway!"

Kim carefully put the diamond on the ground, and straightened up with her hands up. "All right, you can have it."

Anonymous smirked. "I know. Kill her!"

Shots rang out, but in the time the goons had pulled the triggers, Kim had leaped away from where they were aiming, and back into the shadows of the alley.

Anonymous was furious. "Find her!"

The goons moved toward the alley after her, a couple having the sense to light flashlights. However, the light revealed no sign of the redheaded thief. Cautiously, they continued into the alley, looking for any sign of where she might have gone.

Meanwhile, Anonymous walked over to the diamond and picked it up. He opened the briefcase, which was filled with padding rather than money, and put the diamond in, before closing it back up.

Suddenly, there was the sound of a knock, and one of the goons who had gone too close to an unlit shadow slumped to the ground. The other goons turned and fired into the shadow, but the bullets hit only brick and concrete.

No one noticed that the fallen goon's gun had disappeared.

One of the goons said nervously, "Mr. A, maybe we should just get out of here? We have the diamond, after all."

"Are you kidding! She'll just hunt us down if we do that!"

It was a moot point, however, as a shot rang out of the shadows hitting the goon in the back of his knee and sending him to the pavement. A dark form shot out of the shadows after the bullet, but by time anyone could tell that it was the thief, she had broken both flashlights, plunging the alley into darkness.

Anonymous slowly backed away from the alley as grunts and screams of pain could be heard.

The sounds faded to moans, and the thief calmly walked out of the alley, gun in hand.

"That was a nice workout. Thanks."

Shuddering in fright, Anonymous said held out the briefcase. "Here! You can have the diamond back! Just don't hurt me!"

The dark figure stood there for a moment, as if in thought. Finally, Kim said, "I have a better idea."

_...A little while later..._

A police car stopped in front of the alley, and two police officers stepped out. Shining their flashlights into it, they found Mr. Anonymous and the six goons tied up, with Anonymous's briefcase in front of them.

"Well, what do you know! That anonymous call wasn't a prank!" one officer said.

"But do they really have the diamond?" the other officer wondered.

"One way to find out." He walked over to the briefcase, and opened it up. Sparkling in the flashlight light, was the Devonius Diamond.

KPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKP

_...The next day..._

As they walked to Bueno Nachos, Ron asked Kim, "So, in the end you returned the diamond and helped put the guy who wanted it in jail."

Kim shrugged. "I thought about it, and what was I going to do with a diamond? Or all that money, for that matter – if I started spending it, my parents would get awful suspicious..."

"True. So what are you going to do if Anonymous tells them about the message he sent to your site?"

Kim shrugged. "If anybody asks me about it, I'll tell them I thought it was a prank."

"Hmm. Well, hopefully that'll be good enough for them..."

"Even if it isn't, I don't think I left enough evidence for them to pin the theft on me."

"For your sake, I hope you're right. ...At any rate, it's probably for the best things worked out this way. I don't think a life of crime is really you, KP."

Kim grinned. "Actually..."

Ron eyed her nervously. "Actually?"

"Oh, I was just wondering if the police noticed that none of those goons had any money on them?"

Ron stared at her. "I don't want to know. I do not want to know."

They walked on in silence for a little while, Kim still grinning from ear to ear.

After a while, she spoke up. "By the way, did you hear about how Team Impossible saved Mr. Paisley, the billionaire?"

"Yeah," Ron said with a smile. "Now, that's the sort of thing you should be doing!"

Kim ignored him, and said, "They say Paisley uses that laser defense grid to protect his cuddlebuddy collection – including an ultra-rare Flamingoat!"

"You and your cuddlebuddies..." Ron said, shaking his head.

Kim said with a wicked smile, "They also say that only Team Impossible could have gotten through the laser-defense-grid..."

Ron's eyes widened. "Oh, no..."

_...Only the beginning!_

KPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKP

Author's Note: I realize I gave Kim a ridiculously high level of skill for someone so young and unexperienced. My only response is, watch Kim's cheer tryout in "A Sitch In Time." Watch it again. Now tell me, if she can do **that**,are you truly prepared to say there's something she definitely can't do?

Also, if you're wondering if there's more to this story... Only time will tell.


End file.
